Holiday Craziness

This holiday season was so busy for our family. We had 6 Christmas'! Crazy. But, we got through them all without any bruises or scrapes....just incredibly awesome Christmas Presents! Ivy definitely got her practice of unwrapping presents! Christmas morning was just the four of us, and it was so calm and peaceful. The sun shining bright, Johnny Cash playing softly in the background, TJ's insanely potent morning breath! It was great.

Ivy had fun with the box to her Little People Town that my mom and Glenn got her.


And, she is totally in love with her Uncle Jeshua! He is staying with us at our house for a while, and she doesn't leave him alone! She'll bring all her toys to him and when he gets up, a HUGE amount of toys fall off from around him.I forgot a bib for Ivy when it came time to eat dinner at my Mom's Christmas. And, of course I didn't want to get her new outfit all messy, so we just took her shirt off and I caught her diggin in to Jeshua's bread!Besides her love of books and singing, Ivy is totally into coloring and drawing. For Christmas she got this doodle thing, and TJ's parents got her an awesome art easel with a chalkboard and dry erase, so she is totally set.

Christmas was just simply amazing this year. Ivy had a blast. Elouise was so good at all 6 Christmas'. And to top it all off......TJ and I got Wii Fit and an awesome camcorder!! AMAZING! I'm so grateful for all our family and all the gifts. I'm so grateful that my family and good friends could make it to Des Moines to visit. And I'm so grateful that it's finally all over with!!

HOLY CRAP!!

Christmas with my mom and brother is tomorrow and I still haven't finished making my mom's present!!!! I have to make it to that paper store on 5th street and then I can easily finish. Oh crap...and I have to stop by Walgreens, then take my brother to find some shoes. Whatever, it's just 30 degrees out and I'll be hauling 2 babies around. At least my brother is there to carry Ivy for me!

Okay, so here are a couple pics of some of my favorite ornaments on my tree....my poor, sad, crooked Christmas tree!

It's family time...whoa oh ohohoh...

These past couple weeks have been busy! My huge family Christmas was this past weekend. It was awesome. I love my family so much, and it was great to see everyone. I only remembered to take pictures one day of the whole weekend! Here are a few.
My cousin's husband, Josh, holding little Josh. And there's my main squeeze, TJ, with Elouise. Elouise and Joshie are only 3 weeks apart, so they will have eachother to beat up at future family get togethers!

And here's Ivy and Faith opening their PlayDoh! Ivy looks a bit discouraged with the whole wrapping paper thing. But loves her PlayDoh.

Whenever I ask TJ to at least pretend he's enjoying himself in a picture he gives me this SAME face! I have so many of him with Ivy like that, and now I'm stockin up on the ones with Elouise! It's hilarious.

Ivy was soooo crazy with excitment that I could barely capture a good picture of her! This is the best one I got! Her cousin Jourdan had to hold her still! She had a blast with everyone there. So did I. I can't wait until we see them all again!

And, my mom finished Elouise's baby blanket. She made one for Ivy when she was born, too. I just picked out the colors, and my mom did all the work! Next on her list...making me one!

My girls are insanely cute together. At least.....I think they are! I have so much fun just sitting and watching them interact with eachother. Ivy is starting to think Elouise is hilarious. Because Elouise is more active now, ya know, and when she does things Ivy just laughs at her! The other day, for example, Ivy and Elouise were laying next to eachother on our couch. All of a sudden, Elouise lets out a squak, and Ivy looks over at her really fast, laughs, and says to me "Elouise crazy"!

Ivy is also fascinated when Elouise sits next to her. She thinks it's the coolest thing. And, Elouise is so laid back, she's totally entertained by Ivy's rambling spoken thoughts.

Ivy loves to read, and recently, has loved reading to Elouise. Here's a pic I took after bathtime the other day.

Getting the season started of right!

Okay, so tonight TJ is putting up our Christmas tree, and what does he find in the bag with all the tree limbs? A more than half drinken plastic bottle of Jim Beam Whiskey! Hilarious! I have no idea why it is in there, and TJ claims to not remember!